Nothing spoils a day at the races more than the car one is associated with breaking down. Whether one is the driver, a member of the team or the engine supplier, a component supplier (particularly if it is their component that has failed), a sponsor or a supporter, the disappointment experienced when the car falters and ceases to participate in the race, is deep.Full Story

The Cramer Family has been making beer in the town of Warstein, in the hills to the east of Dortmund, in the north of Germany, for as long as there have been records. The first recorded brewer was Konrad Cramer in 1753 and in 1803 his brother Johannes built the first actual brewery in the town. A steam-powered factory replaced the original in 1895 but this and its successors could not cope with demand and so in 1978 a huge new factory was built outside the town. It has been extended twice since then and now employs 12,000 people.Full Story

Charles Wang is the son of a Chinese immigrant and grew up in New York City. After leaving university he began to sell Swiss software in the United States and within five years had built Computer Associates into a big enough company for it to be floated on the New York Stock Exchange. Using the money raised, Wang began buying up his competition and in the course of the next 15 years he spent $4bn to build Computer Associates into the world's third largest software company behind Microsoft and Oracle.Full Story

Head-up displays (HUDs) are now proven and fully accepted technology for use in military and commercial aircraft, but have not yet found a permanent place in either road or racing cars, although Cadillac have offer one, based on Hughes technology, for some years. Full Story

During 1998, the Ferrari F300 appeared with one of the most visibly striking changes to a Formula1 car for some time. Instead of the twin exhaust pipes emerging under the car, carefully placed relative to the diffuser to gain the most benefit for the aerodynamics, they exited through the top of the bodywork alongside the engine. Full Story

Following Mika Hakkinen's accident in Adelaide in 1995, in which he fractured his skull, the FIA initiated a research programme in cooperation with Daimler-Chrysler Research, into driver protection in frontal impacts. The results of that programme will be seen in CART, DTM2000 and other series this year, and in Formula1 next.Full Story

All big companies which enter Formula 1 think that they know how best to run their operations. They have been successful in other forms of motorsport and they think they know what they are doing. Sooner or later they all discover that F1 is harder than they think. Mercedes-Benz built a factory for Sauber in Switzerland before realizing that it was a waste of time and money. Ferrari has spent 20 years trying to win the World Championship. The Ligier team was never a big success. Full Story

Formula 1 has become a "franchise" sport. Following Toyota's decision to pay a $48m deposit to become the sport's 12 team in 2002, anyone wanting to become involved has to buy an existing F1 organization.Full Story

Jenson Button was expecting to have a fairly quiet winter after a busy season racing in the British Formula 3 Championship. As there was not much happening in the middle of December Jenson decided to go off on holiday in Mexico with his girlfriend. And then the telephone rang?Full Story

Twelve months ago Formula 1 folk thought Morgan Grenfell was a NASCAR driver and Scott Lanphere, director of Morgan Grenfell Private Equity Ltd, had been to one single Grand Prix in his life.Full Story